On October 15, 2023, members of ASEZ, the World Mission Society Church of God student volunteer group, hosted a cleanup for sustainability at the California State University, Fresno campus.
The ASEZ group at the campus aimed to assist in sustainability efforts, focusing on two of the UN SDGs: No. 4, Quality Education, and No. 13, Climate Action.
Per the United Nations SDGs official website, the 17 SDGs are “an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership. They recognize that ending poverty and other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with strategies that improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth – all while tackling climate change and working to preserve our oceans and forests.”
In accordance with the SDGs, the ASEZ group held two events in the year 2023; one in March and one in July. Due to the large 388-acre area of the main campus and the limited number of workers, the grounds department expressed an earnest desire for volunteers, and they have been working alongside ASEZ since March 2023.
Over 30 members participated in this event and gathered at the campus at 8 a.m. to get an early start. The volunteers then broke into multiple teams: One team gathered the mulch in wheelbarrows and brought it to the location. Another group spread and evened out the mulch. And, a third group picked up various tree branches that were cut down, swept the sidewalk, and cleaned up the surrounding areas where the work was done.
ASEZ Focuses On UN SDGs
With Climate Action being one of the focuses, eliminating grass and replacing it with mulch enables the University to conserve water and resources that can be used elsewhere.
“It’s always really good to participate with ASEZ because we always do things to better our living conditions and our environment…If we want to change our planet, it should start with us. The future starts here,” volunteer Micheal Riley explained.
“The future starts here” has become the slogan for the events, and as Riley mentioned, it starts with us. Another volunteer, Dante, mentioned that the efforts “made me feel good. It made me feel connected with the community.”
The event was expected to last for three hours, but all of the work was done by 10 a.m. thanks to the unity and hard work of all the members. The grounds department expressed their appreciation by stating that if the volunteers had not come, it would have taken their team close to a month to complete the effort.
The group hopes to continue partnering with the department to help beautify the campus and to focus on sustainability efforts. If all students in every campus took such an action, it would be easier to accomplish the UN SDGs within this year.
